hoary and venerable Xystus, the second of that name who filled the throne of St. Peter, and the youthful and heroic St. Laurence, while the lictors of the Emperor Valerian* dragged the holy Pope to martyrdom? As the pontiff was led away, his Deacon St. Laurence followed weeping; and, at last, burst forth into this pathetic exclamation:'Father, whither are you going without your son? whither are you hastening, O holy priest, without your deacon? You were never wont to offer sacrifice without me your minister: wherein have I now displeased you? have you found me wanting in my duty? Try me now, and see whether you have made choice of an unfit minister for dispensing the blood of Christ!'+ * The Emperor Valerian issued his cruel edicts against the Church in the year 257. + Butler's Lives of the Saints, vol. viii. p. 139. 201 SECTION III. ON THE REAL PRESENCE. XVIII. THE REAL PRESENCE. From reviewing the proofs which so clearly establish the Mass to be a real sacrifice, we naturally proceed to investigate another most important tenet comprehended in that doctrine. For eighteen centuries the Catholic Church has been sedulous in teaching, as one amongst those articles of faith delivered to her by the Apostles, who received it from the lips of truth itself, the Son of God, that in the sacrament of the altar usually denominated the Eucharist,* are received the real Body and the real Blood, together with the soul and the divinity of Jesus Christ-the very 'word made flesh,' which, conceived by the Holy * The primitive Fathers denominate the sacrament instituted by our Saviour at the Last Supper, by the term Eucharist, a Greek word which signifies thanksgiving.' Such an appellation is most appropriate, since it intimates that our Redeemer offered up thanksgivings to the Lord at its institution; and also instructs us concerning the necessity of presenting our grateful thanks to heaven, whenever we receive this abridgment of all God's wonders; this standing memorial of our redemption through the blood of Jesus; and the pledge of a bright eternity. Ghost, and born of the blessed Virgin Mary-was afterwards affixed to the cross, and died for our redemption. The following are some amongst the numerous arguments she exhibits for her unvarying belief in such a dogma. XIX. THE PROMISE MADE BY CHRIST THAT HE WOULD GIVE US HIS FLESH AND BLOOD TO EAT AND DRINK. In the sixth chapter of St. John, we observe that Jesus, after having wrought so great a miracle as that of feeding five thousand persons in the desert with five barley loaves and two small fishes, took occasion to unfold the doctrine of the real presence to the wondering multitude. The Evangelist informs us that the Saviour thus addressed them;'I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them: Amen, Amen I say unto you: except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me and I in him; as the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that This Not eateth me, the same also shall live by me. is the bread that came down from heaven. as your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. Many, therefore, of his disciples hearing it, said: this saying is hard, and who can hear it? After this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." This passage of scripture claims our particular attention. Here our divine Redeemer promises to give his followers an especial kind of nourishment -a food which would surpass the manna of the desert-itself a wondrous bread-the bread of angels,+ rained down from heaven, where it was miraculously produced, and which exhibited such wonders in all its several circumstances. • When the dew fell in the night upon the camp, the manna also fell with it." It fell only round about the camp of the Israelites, and that too every day except the Sabbath.§ In such quantities did this bread of heaven rain down upon the Jews for those forty years of their wandering through the wilderness, that it was sufficient to nourish the whole multitude of more than a million of people, each one of whom, though he might gather, could not secure, except on the sabbath, more than sufficient for his daily maintenance, which was a gomor, or, accord *St John C. vi. V. 51-59, 61-67. 1 Numb. C. xi. V. 7. + Ps. lxxvii. V. 25. Exod. C. xvi. V. 27. ing to our English measure, about three quarts.* Every sixth day it came down in double quantities, and though it infallibly putrified when reserved beyond one single day, yet on the Sabbath it never suffered such an alteration. This same manna which melted away before the beams of the morning sun, when left in the fields, on being conveyed within the tent, acquired such hardness and consistency as to be ground in the mill or pounded in a mortar; and would even so far resist the action and the heat of fire, as to be boiled in a pot, and made up into cakes. Any bread therefore, which could possibly surpass it in excellence, must be wondrous indeed; hence that food alluded to by Christ, and signified to be superior to the manna of the ancient Israelites, must, like it, not only come from heaven, but comprehend still greater wonders; and that it did, is evident from every expression of our Saviour. 1. His future gift was not to be common-inert --inanimate bread, but living bread,§ consequently with life in it, quickened with a spirit; yes, it was to be it is the very flesh of Jesus, animated by his radiant, spotless soul, and sanctified by its union with his divinity. 2. But this is not all: if we interrogate the sacred text concerning the nature of that bread from heaven, with which the Re *Exod. C. xvi. V. 18. Numb. C. xi. V. 8. + Exod. C. xvi. V. 20-22. St. John. Cvi. V. 51. |